Dialogue #3: "Lessons from IARF's Collaboration with Bektashi in Macedonia", with Prof. Sulejmani

Description

At our last meeting on 23 May, the speaker was Prof. Arben Sulejmani from the Bektashi Community of Macedonia. He talked about IARF's collaboration with the Bektashi and what we were able to achieve to help them fight for equality and religious freedom in Macedonia, and what we can learn from it for our future work with other minorities.
Prof. Sulejmani is a historian and a scholar of the Bektashi tradition, which is an open and progressive Muslim community with great appreciation for art and spirituality. He is also the chair of the Bektashi Community in Macedonia, as well as assistant to the leader of the world Bektashi Community, Baba Edmond Brahimaj (Baba Mondi), based in Albania. The Bektashis hosted IARF's 2016 regional conference in Tetovo, Macedonia (you can read about it here: https://iarf.net/projects/iarf-eme/conference-2016/).
You can learn more about the Bektashi Community here: https://iarf.net/visit-to-macedonia-2015/.
Facing the isolation we imposed on ourselves to try and contain the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable among us, many are looking for ways to experience a sense of community, for an opportunity to have a meaningful conversation.
We would like to make our modest contribution, and we have started a series of online meetings we call “Motivational Dialogue Sessions”. The format is simple: a guest speaker delivers a presentation of 10 to 15 minutes, and a conversation follows. The first speaker was Rabbi Robert Carroll, talking about religious freedom and the pandemic, then followed by Betsy Darr, who related the pandemic to environmental issues and IARF work, and now Prof. Sulejmani.